Millions of football fans tune in each year to see two teams battle in the Super Bowl for the NFL championship trophy. Because the broadcast viewership for the event is so large (with correspondingly high advertising fees), marketers go to great lengths to create inspirational commercials. Indeed, for some of us, the commercials may be so inspiring that they end up being more interesting than the actual football game. These commercials may then inspire us and end up influencing our purchasing decisions.
Millions of movie goers may also turn out to see the newest James Bond movie that includes a scene with James Bond driving the latest sports car from Aston Martin. Such a sequence, called “product placement,” may not be as direct in attempting to influence our purchasing decisions, but may be just as powerful (if not more so) to inspire us to take a certain action. For example, after seeing this scene you may be inspired to go out and buy a sports car.
Both of the above techniques involve situations in which a marketer is seeking to expressly tie your inspiration in the media content to a particular product. However, there is also a vast collection of media content that does not fall into the commercial or product placement categories. Specifically, other scenes in a James Bond movie that are not directly tied to any particular product may also inspire you action. For example, James Bond jumping out of an airplane may inspire you to sign up for a sky diving adventure. Alternatively, older media content may still be highly inspirational. For example, given the passage of enough time, a product placement provided in an earlier James Bond film may provide you with a different inspiration than the one originally intended. Also, older movies such as the Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind are still capable of inspiring viewers, but they may inspire viewers to do or buy different things now as compared to when those films were first released back in the 1930s.
Marketers and users would benefit if such inspirations could be tapped and targeted to provide users with opportunities for action on their inspirations when viewing media content. Thus, new and interesting techniques of providing users with such abilities may be desirable.
In certain example embodiments, a media content intake system receives media content and tags portions of the content as being associated with a particular result. In certain example embodiments, the result is a product or a service. In certain example embodiments, the result may include further information (e.g., a make and model of a car that is in the content). A library or database of such tags can be created and maintained.
Consumers are then encouraged to capture and send in portions of media streams they are currently watching, listening to, etc. The portions of the media streams that users capture and send in are analyzed. A comparison is made between the tagged content and the captured media content. When a match is found, the user is sent information associated with the tagged result.
In certain example non-limiting embodiments, automatic identification of TV or movie content and association with product or service offers or location aids is provided via a mobile device. The content may include for example movies, TV shows, advertisements, sports, news, music, entertainment channels, or any form of stimuli that can be sensed and captured electronically. Such content can be delivered live (e.g., a play, a movie, a rock band performance, etc.) or remotely (e.g., by cable television, via a terrestrial or satellite radio, etc.) The mobile device may operate to capture video, audio, and/or images, and relate them to particular goods and/or services. The user may be presented with more information about the goods/services and/or may be presented with options to purchase the goods and/or services.
In certain example embodiments, one or more software modules may be implemented on a processing system that analyzes media content. For example:                A Media platform module may include functionality that                    Creates tagged media content though the automatic processing of channels (e.g., TV channels, internet sources, etc). Tagged information may include:                            Program type, for example: movies, documentary, sports (e.g., NFL, NBA), news, music, T.V. shows, commercials (e.g., Advertisements).                Time of transmission or broadcast, for example: country, region, city, channel number, network (e.g., HBO, NBC, ABC).                                    Provides libraries of searched data, for example on:                            Cars                Bicycles                Sports such as golf, football, etc                                    Provides multi-functionality support for users so that users may interact with certain services in more than one language (e.g., English, Arabic, Spanish)            Accepts or uploads advertising content with tagged or associated information, for example:                            Scene information                Frames of the advertisement                A logo associated with the advertisement                Speech data (e.g., a finger print for speech in the advertisement)                VOCR (Video Optical Character Recognition) textual data                A telephone number (e.g., for linking to an IVR)                Possible actions that may be taken in relation to the Ad:                                    Connect to Purchase goods                    Connect to Website                                                                    Geographical data, for example: national, regional, or local listings                        Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engines        Finger Printing Of Advertisements        Video Optical Character Recognition (VOCR)        Automatic searches in an image collection        Automatic structure detection from structure        Mobile server Interfaces        Facial Recognition        User profile that may include information such as, for example,                    Name, email, telephone number (e.g., home, work, cell), payment options, billing information, the devices that are registered (e.g., iPhone, Android mobile devices), buying history, wish list, interests, etc                        
Integration and/or Interface Modules may also be included, for example:                Interactive Voice Response        Web Servers        Payment methods, for example: PayPal, wallet, mobile        Social Media such as Face book, twitter, and other services        
Mobile clients for use by users may be implemented for various mobile device platforms, such as the Apple's iPhone or iPod, the Android platform, or other types of mobile phones, devices, tablets, etc.                Such clients may include functionality that allows integration with pre-existing commercial implementations (e.g., an application store, a music store, or the like).        The client may include user interfaces that allow for easy recordation of content and forwarding to a server for analysis.        The client may include audio, video, and/or image compression technology.        
Billing and financial systems may also be integrated with various other systems and/or modules according to certain example embodiments.
In certain example embodiments, a rover module may be used to assist in identifying content. The identification process may use multiple “paths” to increase confidence that the product, service, or other item being identified is correct. For example, video, voice, ISR, and other features of media content may be analyzed simultaneously (or in series) to identify a target piece of media.
In certain example embodiments, a method of providing information to a user of a mobile device that includes at least one imaging system that is configured to obtain media content is provided. The mobile device is operable to communicate with an information processing server. First media content is received from the mobile device, the first media content obtained through the at least one imaging system of the mobile device. Second media content is obtained that is from a media source that is different than the mobile device. At least one product is associated with the second media content. The first media content is processed to obtain at least one feature of the first media content. A matching analysis process is performed on the first media content against the second media content based on the at least one feature. A result to the mobile device is sent that indicates whether or not a match to the first media content was identified.
In certain example embodiments, a processing server system that analyzes media content that is uploaded via mobile devices by users is provided. The system includes a memory storage medium. The system also includes at least one processor. The at least one processor is structured to receive first media content from a mobile device, the first media content obtained through at least one imaging system that is part of the mobile device. The at least one processor is structured to receive second media content that is from a media source different from the mobile device and store the received second media content in the memory storage medium. The at least one processor is structured to associate at least one product with the second media content. The at least one processor is structured to process the first media content to obtain at least one feature of the first media content. The at least one processor is structured to perform a matching analysis process on the first media content against the second media content based on the at least one feature. The at least one processor is structured to send a result to the mobile device that indicates whether or not a match to the first media content was identified.
In certain example embodiments, a system for analyzing media content and providing buying opportunities to users of a mobile device is provided. The system includes a mobile device including at least one imaging system that is configured to obtain first media content in response to user input. The system includes a processing system that wirelessly communicates with the mobile device. A processing system is structured to receive the first media content that is obtained via the mobile device. A processing system is structured to receive second media content that is from a media source different from the mobile device and store the received second media content in a memory storage medium. A processing system is structured to associate at least one tagged feature with the second media content. A processing system is structured to store at least one product in the storage medium in association with the second media content. A processing system is structured to in response to receipt of the first media content, process the first media content to obtain at least one feature in the first media content. A processing system is structured to perform a matching analysis process on the first media content against the second media content based on comparing the at least one feature to the at least one tagged feature. A processing system is structured to send a result to the mobile device that indicates the at least one product is associated with the first media content in response to a successful matching process.